Currently, California-based electric car startup Fisker automotive is
sub-manufacturing its Karma
plug-in electric vehicle through Valmet Automotive in Finland.
Now thanks to a loan
of $528.7M USD from the Department of Energy, Fisker is moving
the focus of its production -- and the money and jobs that goes with
it -- to the United States.

The move became official at a
press
conference in Wilmington, Delaware this morning. Joined by
Delaware's Governor, Jack Markell, and Vice President Joe Biden,
Fisker's founder and CEO Henrik Fisker officially announced his
company's plans to purchase a closed GM plant and repurpose it to
produce his company's electric vehicles.

The plant was built
by GM in 1947 and was last used to produce the Pontiac Solstice and
Saturn Sky, both of which ended production last spring. It is
currently owned by Motors Liquidation, the government-organized
bankruptcy holding from GM that is seeking to sell off the
company's remaining stale assets. Fisker will get the plant at
a bargain price of $18M USD, leaving plenty of its loan funding for
the retooling, employment, and distribution costs. The
refurbishing and retooling of the plant is estimated to cost $175M
USD and will take three years to fully complete, though partial
production may start before that.

The plant sits on a spacious
142 acres of land and features over 3.2 million square feet of floor
space. Once retooled, it will be used to build a new,
more-affordable plug-in that Fisker is currently
cooking up, codenamed "Project Nina". Fisker
plans to release this new vehicle by 2012 and reach production levels
of 75,000-100,000 units annually by 2014 which is well above current
Karma production levels. The company says that half the
production will be sold domestically and approximately half of the
production will be exported and sold overseas, under his company's
current plan. It is targeting a price of under $40,000 for the
vehicle, after federal tax credits, ironically similar to the
speculated price of the 2011
Chevy Volt, produced by GM.

Mr. Fisker praised the plan
for the new plant. He describes, "This is a major step
toward establishing America as a leader of advanced vehicle
technology. Wilmington is perfect for high quality, low volume
production and will soon be the proud builder of world-class,
fuel-efficient Fisker plug-in hybrids."

Although Fisker's
current overseas production plans have caught some flak, more
criticism may be raised over the plant's use of unionized labor.
The plant will employ 2,000 workers, mostly UAW members. The
decision to keep the plant unionized is a rather atypical choice for
a startup auto firm. The plant will also lead to the employment
of approximately 3,000 supplier jobs in the U.S.

Gary Casteel,
UAW director responsible for the plant, cheered the decision to keep
the plant unionized, stating, "It gives me great pride to give
UAW Local 435 workers the opportunity to partner with Fisker
Automotive to create a greener America by building a plug-in hybrid
car that will compete globally."

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And the #1 job of management is providing value to the shareholders. Strange that nobody complains about them even though they make more and are directly responsible for the horrible decisions that damaged the Big Three.

I think after the recession runs its course and wages for IT workers start plumetting we might see a different line of commentary. If you live in America, someone can do your job for far less than you. It gets easier to find that someone every year...

Really? So someone turning a wrench on a car or plugging in a harness. is harder to replace then someone who can migrate your entire organization from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2007? Best part about being an IT person is that my field is always changing, and as long as I keep current with technology I will always be in demand. And the kids these days are growing up with it and most couldn't troubleshoot themselves out of a paper bag. Or have the years of experience with all sorts of technology. Technology isn't something you want a low paid or low quality person working on. And no, when it comes to IT, you might be able to find cheaper, but I have found in technology you get what you pay for. I am the only one out of the 120 employees here that can do my job as well as I can. Which is why I get paid more. IT workers don't need a union. We have skills that are in demand. If I don't like what you are giving me or paying me, I will find someone that will. Keep yourself relevant and you don't have to worry about a job. I'd like to see your justification for plummeting IT salaries. Even if they do by some miracle, there are enough uneducated users with malware problems that need to have wireless networks installed. What job does an auto assembler do that would be useful as a side job?

And you are the very reason why IT gets a bad rep. Drop the arrogance, share your knowledge with other IT staff on your team, and move onto the next challenging aspect of IT.

Are you management as well as the technology side? Always remember that someone has more experience than you and can get it done faster. Your myopic view is within your organization, not the entire labor pool of IT.

Just some friendly advice... otherwise I agree there shouldn't be an IT union. Even though I wouldn't mind starting one so I can be a millionare and retire soon.